


Cryptic thoughts of a criminal

by Moonprincess92



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Criminals, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Heist, Los Angeles, Undercover, just casually robbing from la's richest to give to the poor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:14:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28367487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonprincess92/pseuds/Moonprincess92
Summary: Reluctant partners in crime, Jyn and Cassian team up this festive season to heist a rather valuable painting…Written for Rebelcaptain Secret Santa 2020.
Relationships: Cassian Andor/Jyn Erso
Comments: 46
Kudos: 66





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mosylu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mosylu/gifts).



> Merry Christmas to @mosylufanfic! I was asked to provide some fake datin' at Christmas and I was more than happy to oblige. I loved being your Santa, I hope you had an amazing Christmas and that you like this fic! xoxo 
> 
> There will definitely be a part 2, because I naturally went overboard. 
> 
> Title comes from the song 'Not My Neighbour' by Niko Walters.

Cassian wasn’t sure whether he wanted to punch her or punch himself when he answered the door and saw her standing there.

“Nice wreath,” she said, casually gesturing up at the Christmas adornment on his apartment door.

“NO,” he declared before slamming said door in her face.

Of course the hammering started up once again as soon as he walked away. He really shouldn’t have expected anything less. Honestly, the most sensible and safest option here was to snap his headphones back on and drown out the knocking with yet another cheesy Netflix Christmas movie. Absolutely nothing good could come from letting her in, but he heard her muffled voice yell through the wood. “ _Come on, Cassian! Just hear me out!_ ” and against all of his better judgement, he ended up wheeling back around to round on her in retaliation.

“I said NO, Jyn,” he yelled. “I don’t need to hear you out because I know exactly what you’re going to say. _‘Oh, Cassian, I have the perfect job lined up, we’ll split it, I can’t do it without you,’_ well, forget it!” He threw up his hands in exasperation, knowing she’d be able to hear it in his voice. “Last time really was the last time.”

“ _Well, now, you’re just being dramatic_.”

“You threw me under the bus and left me to get questioned by the cops,” he thundered.

“ _It was that, or we both went down! Come on, I wired you your share of the money_.”

“Don’t you get it, Jyn?” Cassian shook his head. “Leave me alone, it’s Christmas.”

He was sure that she would have another argument. She always did, and he knew if he hung around long enough she would somehow manage to convince him to still help her. Jyn Erso activated the part of him that found it impossible to say the word ‘no’. 

It had started with mostly pick-pocketing. Living on the streets hadn’t given Cassian and his sisters many other options for survival, and so as the oldest, he’d turned to stealing as a way to provide. Eventually, he realised that he’d grown quite good at it. The first time he stole a purse he had been twelve and the first time he stole a car, he’d been seventeen. The first time he stole a painting had been three years ago, and that was of course not the first time he’d ended up having to shake the police off his tail.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” she’d said to him.

He’d seen her before. He knew how to spot when someone was casing a place, and she had visited the museum three times within a week. She had a different disguise every time, but Kay had hacked into the video surveillance so that they could do the same thing and she had been a pattern that kept cropping up. Not about to let their target get stolen before they could, he’d gone in to confront her before he could stop and think that that it was probably a bad idea.

“Stunning,” he’d mentioned. “So when are you planning on stealing it?”

She’d feigned innocence. “What are you talking about?”

“We’ve seen you in the surveillance footage,” he’d said, keeping his voice calm and casual. “I can tell when someone’s planning a heist.”

She’d been silent for a long while. He’d noted the large hat on her head, the bleached ends of her home dye job and the way her hand twitched ever so slightly, as if he would already have a bullet or knife through his chest if they weren’t currently surrounded by hundreds of fellow museum goers here just to appreciate the high art around them. His lips had curved in a smile when finally, she'd replied,

“What do you want?”

“Cut us in.”

“Who else is involved?”

“Just me and my partner. You?”

“I work alone,” she’d told him.

“Even better,” he’d said, turning back to the unsuspecting painting in front of them. “There’s no way you could get this out by yourself.”

She’d snorted. “Maybe _you_ couldn’t.”

He’d shrugged off the dig. “Are you in or not?”

“Do I even have a choice?” she’d smirked at him. “Fine. I’m in. What’s your name?”

“Jeron. You?”

“You can call me Lyra.”

The great thing about Los Angeles was that there were always plenty of rich people ready and willing to buy plenty of expensive things. That had been the first job they’d worked together, and it certainly hadn’t been their last. He knew that he shouldn’t have grown to trust her so much, but they’d sporadically run into each other on and off over the years, stealing something here, scamming someone else there. They didn’t always come away unscathed. She’d conned him, he’d stolen from her, and last time he’d been arrested because she’d decided to rescue herself and leave him to deal with the mess. She was just damn lucky that there had been zero evidence to charge him with anything.

No. He was never working with her again.

“ _Look, I get it!_ ” Jyn called through the door. “ _I fucked you over, but it’s not like you would have done any different. It was either get myself out or we both went down, so I chose to salvage the job in any way I could. I knew you'd be fine, there was no evidence – oh, just fucking let me in already, it’s as hot as balls out here!_ ”

He was going straight to hell for this. He opened the door.

“It’s December in LA,” he told her. “It’s probably not even 70 degrees today.”

“I’m from England, I don’t understand your Fahrenheit bullshit,” she said, crinkling her nose at him. “To me, this is still hot.” 

She slipped inside with an ease that he hadn’t quite realised she had until that moment. She looked so at home here. She knew which cupboards to go into to make coffee for them both and she had no problems flopping herself down onto his couch, snorting with laughter at the ‘watch again’ category that she could clearly see on his open laptop. God, this really was a bad idea.

“ _The Knight Before Christmas?_ ” she said. 

“It’s a terrible movie. I love it,” he said, folding his arms across his chest and refusing to sit with her. “My sister watches them.”

“Is this the sister that’s studying economics, or the sister who re-posts viral videos of cats on her YouTube?”

“Neither, it’s the sister who had my niece and nephew actually.”

“Shit, how many sisters do you have again?”

He ignored that. “Honestly, what do you want, Jyn? You know I’m not going to do whatever job it is you’ve lined up, so why are you still in my lounge, drinking my coffee?”

“You let me in,” she pointed out. “Come on, a part of you at least wants to hear what it is. Sit down, for fuck’s sake, here–” She held out the second mug and he took it with a sigh, sinking down next to her on the couch.

“There’s this Christmas fundraiser that’s happening in two weeks,” she explained to him. “An art auction. There’s one painting in particular that I’ve got my eye on. We go in as guests, stay behind in the gallery after it’s over and everything is closed. I’ve been watching, I know where all the blind spots are, so we wait until the right moment and boom, painting is ours! It’s kind of big,” she added. “It’ll take two people to get it out, and I could use Kay on the surveillance. I can’t do it without you.”

“That’s fair.”

“So you’ll do it?”

“No.”

“But–”

“Look, Jyn, I appreciate you thinking of me,” Cassian rubbed his eyes. “but after three years, I think I’ve finally learned my lesson. Find someone else.”

“I don’t work with anyone else except you.”

She said it so matter-of-factly. The words stabbed him in the chest, much like they did any other time she said something relatively sentimental. He remembered a particularly rough job that they’d done around about this time last year. They’d fucked up on the timing and ended up having to run, run a lot faster than they usually would. They’d run so much that by the time they’d gotten back to Cassian’s apartment, their prize safely stashed inside her backpack, they’d both collapsed onto this very same couch and laughed their asses off. Instead of saying her usual cursory thanks and disappearing without a trace as she normally did, she’d ended up staying for drinks, the two of them eventually falling asleep together. He’d been awkwardly propped up against the arm of the couch, refusing to move lest it jostle Jyn as her head rested in his lap and they’d both hastily woken in the early hours of the morning, rubbing their eyes and realising how much time had gone by.

“Shit,” she’d murmured, glancing at her phone and quickly sitting up. “Shit, I need to get moving, we should have found a potential buyer by now–”

“Ye – yeah…” he’d muttered back. He’d stared at the back of her head for a moment as he stretched out his neck, hesitating on his next words until eventually he burst out, “Why did you stay?”

She’d glanced back at him.

“I don’t know. I feel safe here I guess,” she’d shrugged.

The rational part of his brain was constantly at war with the tiny emotional part that he kept hidden locked away in the depths of his hypothalamus whenever he was around her. He quickly cast around for something to say that would stop him from blurting out that he would help her.

“How’s school?” he ended up going with.

She snorted. “It’s crazy, but I’m still alive. I’ve finished my assignments for the semester, so I’m officially free for the holidays.”

“Just in time to go Christmas shopping with all the overtired soccer moms and underpaid retail workers.”

“As if, I buy everything online,” Jyn waved her hand. “I’m taking the bar next year.”

“Holy shit,” When he’d first met her, she had only just gotten in to law school. While at first they’d tried hard to keep their partnership strictly professional, barely even talking outside of whatever heist they had planned, it had slowly derailed as time went by. She had a pretty good understanding of the law and always turned up with a bag full of text books, it was pretty clear that she was a law student, and quite desperately needed the money. The more they worked together, the more they talked and the more he realised that under any other circumstances, they’d actually probably be rather good friends.

“I know, right?” she said.

“But you only just started school,” he teased. 

She shoved his shoulder. “Ya girl’s gonna be a lawyer,” she grinned. “Are you proud of me?”

_Yes. Always._

“Will you represent me if I ever get arrested again?” he asked.

“Assuming I haven’t also been arrested right alongside you,” she said. “How’s the family?”

“They’re good,” Cassian said. “Mari is flying in on the 23rd, I’m picking her up from the airport and she’ll stay with me for a night. Frankie is driving up on the 24th and then we’re all spending Christmas day at Teresa’s house.”

“She’s the one who lives in Pasadena, right?”

“You have a good memory.”

“I don’t think so,” Jyn shook her head. “I’m pretty sure you have a fourth sister, but I can’t remember her name.”

“Ana,” Cassian snorted.

“ANA, that’s right,” Jyn said, triumphantly. “I watch her TikToks.”

“I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to hear that.”

“I’m glad they’re doing well.”

“Thanks,” he said. “Anyway – this has been real fun, Jyn. Nice seeing you and all that, but I think I really should be getting back to my work–”

She eyed the laptop on his coffee table.

“…watching Christmas movies on Netflix?”

“It’s very important.”

“Will you at least think about it?” Jyn huffed, only half-heartedly resisting as he stood up and started ushering her back through his apartment and towards the front door. “I didn’t even tell you the best part, yet–”

“Literally nothing you say can change my mind,” he said cheerfully, opening the door.

“We split it 60-40?”

“Merry Christmas, Jyn.”

“70-30!”

“Let’s catch up in the new year,” he said. “BYEEE.”

“Orson Krennic is the mark!”

_SLAM._

He’d shut the door in her face but her words made him freeze before he could turn around and storm away. Very few names could do that to him, but shit, she’d managed to find the one thing to make him reconsider everything. Orson Krennic ran in their circle. A controversial public figure well known for his millions of Twitter followers, billions of net worth, performative philanthropy and with half the LAPD on his side, they’d run into him more times than he’d ever wished they had. He’d fucked them both over plenty of times. He knew Jyn had a personal vendetta against him (for reasons she’d still not really divulged entirely, something to do with her parents but he’d been too afraid to ask) and if there was ever a chance for Cassian to be able to steal from Orson Krennic…

Goddamn it. He went back and opened the door, Jyn simply waiting for him on the other side with a smug look on her face.

“Fuck you,” Cassian said. “I’m in.”

* * *

“Don’t do it, man,” Kay said, sucking his boba tea through the straw without even taking his eyes off his phone.

“Yeah, about that…”

Kay slammed his phone down onto the table. “You already said you’d do it, didn’t you?”

“Look, I know it’s a terrible idea, but I couldn’t say no!” He threw up his arms in exasperation. “We’re stealing from _Orson Krennic_ , I can’t pass up that opportunity.”

“Don’t even try and make this about Orson Krennic,” Kay scoffed at him. “Jyn could ask you to steal from an innocent old lady and you’d do it.”

“I… I would never.”

But Kay knew him better than Cassian probably knew himself at this point. Having known each other since their early days of college, he’d been there before Jyn came into his life and he would be there long after her. Kay could no doubt read the helpless look on his face like a book.

“Cassian, you’re half in love with the girl,” he pointed out.

“ _Shut up_ ,” he hissed.

Kay stared pointedly around the south Hollywood boba shop. Full of freelancers typing away at their laptops, aspiring actors and girls wearing branded athletic gear swinging by for a drink after a workout, no one even glanced up at his statement. Right. No one exactly cared about how he felt… still, hearing it said out loud made it all too real. 

“Absolutely nothing good can come from you working with her,” Kay quite reasonably pointed out. “All she does is break your heart and take your money.”

“You have a point,” Cassian admitted. “but also consider: this time I break her before she even has another chance to break me.”

“I’d go for that, if I didn’t know that you’re full of bullshit,” Kay snorted.

“I’ll do it!” 

“No, you won’t,” Kay shook his head. “You’ll put all your trust in her like you always do and continue to be surprised when she ultimately betrays you. You’re the living embodiment of the ‘shocked Pikachu’ meme.”

“I regret letting my sister teach you about memes.”

“Excuse me, I curate my own niche memes now,” Kay said. He glanced up at Cassian and for a long moment, a simple look passed between them. He could not do this without Kay, and his partner knew it. When Kay sighed, Cassian tried not to outwardly jump for joy. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, I know you’re going to do it no matter what, so of course I’m in. But let it go on record that I think this is a ridiculously bad idea–”

Cassian didn’t even let him finish. He just leaned in and flung his arms around his partner.

“Jesus Christ…” Kay said, exasperatedly.

“Thank you,” Cassian replied.

“You’re welcome, now get the hell off me.”

* * *

The Jonathan Scarif Art Gallery was so elaborately decorated, Cassian rather thought he’d just stepped inside a snow globe. Someone had clearly been given an unlimited budget and told to go nuts, because there were at least twelve Christmas trees, tinsel wrapped around the stair banisters, wreaths and lights and naturally an entire Santa’s grotto set up in one of the main wings. He didn’t know how Kay was able to hack the guest list to include their fake personas, but somehow the man managed to work Christmas miracles.

“It’s no miracle,” Kay had huffed the night before. “It’s just simple coding, once you get the password, pretty much everything is accessible–” 

_Anyway_. Cassian had made sure to wear the fanciest suit he had and hanging off his arm next to him, Jyn wore a shimmering gold dress that admittedly made him go a little speechless when she’d first walked out in it. After altering their appearances enough with blond wigs, fake glasses, and coloured contacts, he remembered glancing at her as she appeared from her room and ended up doing a rather embarrassing double take as they all started heading out the door.

“What?” she’d asked.

He’d just shaken his head and followed.

They’d done this before, of course. The sneaking and lying, acting and pretending. They were pretty good at it by now. She knew exactly how to position herself to make it look believable. They pretended to drank champagne while she slipped her free arm around his waist, letting it sit just low enough to cross into romantic territory. If he needed to speak to her, he would lean in and pretend to kiss her neck and it was going to straight up kill him one of these days, because ‘massive, inexcusable crush’ really was the tame way to describe how he felt whenever he was around Jyn Erso, but what other choice did he have? Ask out the girl who once stole ten thousand dollars from him? _Sure_. It was torture having her tucked under his arm, her skin red and flushed from adrenaline and her hair smelling like a tropical breeze, but he still managed to scan the crowd, using the wire in his ear that Kay had managed to DIY together himself by watching a lot of videos on YouTube. 

“Any sign of Krennic’s representative?” he murmured to Kay.

“ _That’s a negative_ ,” Kay sighed as he no doubt sat hunched over his iPad in the non-descript van somewhere. “ _So far haven’t seen anyone we know who works with Krennic over the surveillance_.”

“We’ll keep looking,” Jyn said, looking directly at Cassian, even though he knew her words were meant for Kay.

 _Fuck, her eyes_. “I haven’t even seen this painting yet,” he told her. “Is it even good?”

“You don’t care what the painting looks like,” Jyn smirked. “you just want to fuck over Krennic.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

She just laughed. “Come on,” She let her hand trail down his arm, linking her fingers through his. He hoped that he didn’t shiver as she led him through the crowd. They weaved through the celebrities mingling, the many different journalists and photographers, the Los Angeles Philharmonic as they blasted out ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ and the pockets of people gathered around each of the art pieces that were currently on sale. The silent auction was apparently all app based these days (much to Kay’s delight, as it would be much easier to hack), everyone making their bets through their phones and waiting to see who would win at the end of the night. Even though Cassian knew that Kay would make sure that Krennic would win, he still eyed the crowd around their chosen asset with apprehension. How many of them would be pissed to find out they didn’t get it? Would any of them get pissed enough to try and take it as well? He wasn’t sure if Jyn even had a contingency plan for a wild third party showing up.

(To be fair, it wouldn’t be an Insane Jyn Plan without at least a portion of said plan being ‘wing it and hope for the best’).

Eventually, a rather high end model and her date moved out of the way and Cassian was finally able to get a good enough view.

“Huh,” he said, his hand still in Jyn’s. “I see why you needed me now.”

“Right?” Jyn squeezed his fingers. “Imagine trying to carry that by yourself.”

The painting portrayed a beautiful galaxy of stars, roughly the size of a movie poster. The most notable feature, however, was the fiery explosion that was depicted in the middle, reds and golds contrasting with the black background. Cassian glanced at the app on his phone again, saw the number under ‘ _starting bid_ ’ and didn’t even want to think about what they could do with the amount of money the painting was worth.

“It’s called _Death of a Star_ ,” Jyn said.

“It’s beautiful,” Cassian admitted. Someone then elbowed past him in their attempts to see the painting and he was momentarily distracted as they hastily stepped back out of the way. “Holy shit, Jyn, I think that was Taylor Swift–”

“ _Shut up_ ,” she hissed.

“Oh, right – I mean, Lyra–”

“God, I forgot how shite you are at this,” Jyn shook her head. “Pull your head in, we have a whole evening to get through. Also, you need to kiss me.”

He choked on his champagne.

She snorted. “Well, that’s nice.”

“Sorry–” he gasped. She was literally going to murder him one of these days, and she wouldn’t even know it. He knew it wasn’t a big deal. They’d kissed before on several other jobs that they’d worked together and he somehow managed to keep it professional every time (he honestly thought he deserved a medal). Honestly, she was right in her exasperation, he definitely should have been playing the roles they were assigned properly by now, but hearing those words come out of her mouth…

He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. His arm curled around her waist, she clutched the lapel of his suit and Jesus Christ, he hoped that she couldn’t hear the thumping of his heart through his chest because it was reverberating through his brain like someone had smashed a rather large gong inside it.

She pulled away, a spark in her eyes.

“I am so lucky to have a husband like you,” she told him.

“You owe me an island holiday after this.”

She rolled her eyes with a scoff. She moved to subtly tip out the last of her champagne, but that was when she suddenly slammed him in the chest with her back of her hand. “ _Oh my god_ ,” she breathed. “Is that Leia Organa?”

“Oh, now look who’s star struck,” Cassian huffed, but he noticed that she was right. Award-winning actress, Leia Organa, was indeed apparently attending the fundraiser that evening. She was currently talking with a journalist not too far away from them across the room, a professional smile gracing her lips and Cassian snorted at the look on Jyn’s face.

“Tell me honestly,” he said. “How many times have you seen _Galaxy Wars_?” 

“Nothing, shut up.”

“It’s ok, I think she’s cool too.”

“ _Fuck my life_ , she’s so hot,” Jyn tried to contain herself by tugging heavily on his jacket sleeve. “and so funny, have you seen her interviews? She seems so genuine–”

“I think she’s finished her interview now,” Cassian pointed out as the journalist moved on. “Come on, we have to talk to her–”

“ _I would just like to point out here_ ,” Kay’s disembodied voice chimed in through their ear pieces. “ _we’re literally in the middle of a heist_.”

At some point, you kind of had to forget that part. It was a weird life that they lived. They always seemed to be on the fringes of society, so often around the flashing lights, cameras and celebrities of Los Angeles, but always there under false pretences. Always with an agenda, always fake, and never exactly fitting in. Cassian wasn’t even sure what part of society they belonged in at all. All the money that he and Jyn made from their heists went back into education, whether it was Jyn’s own studies, or how Cassian was paying for all four of his younger sisters to get through college ( _he didn’t want any of them to turn out like he did_ ). Not poor, not rich, capitalist society would place him at the centre, but he was hardly living the American Dream with a house, a dog and white picket fence either.

Sometimes, they simply had to pretend they belonged. They were good at that, after all.

“Leia Organa?” Cassian had to be the one to say something, seeing as Jyn looked like she might just die. “Hope you don’t mind, my wife here is a huge fan of you.”

“Of course not, thank you,” Leia said earnestly, looking like she'd just stepped off the runway in her white designer dress. “Have you made any bets yet tonight?”

“We’re still weighing up our options,” Cassian gestured vaguely over his shoulder at the paintings on display. “Yourself?”

“Oh, I’m the same, I just love all of them–” Leia replied.

“LYRA,” Jyn stuck out her hand randomly, causing both Leia and Cassian to stare at her. “I mean – I’m Lyra,” she added in a slightly calmer tone. “This is my husband, Jeron. You probably won’t have heard of us, we run the charity ‘One Roof’ together.”

“It’s aim is to provide support to the homeless,” Cassian hastily elaborated.

It was a rehearsed story, complete with a fake website that Cassian had created earlier, should anyone feel the need to google them. “Nice to meet you,” Leia told them. “What made you decide on homelessness as your cause?”

Jyn glanced up at him with a pause.

“Personal experience,” he said. “My sisters and I, we grew up in and out of foster care and there was a period of time when we were homeless. I wanted to create something that could help people who were in similar situations. I’m just lucky enough my wife felt the same and was willing to help.”

The art to any good lie was of course to base it in truth.

“I will have to look into your charity,” Leia said, warmly. “It was so lovely meeting you both, Merry Christmas!”

She left the conversation so diplomatically, Cassian barely even noticed that it had ended. He could only imagine how many more conversations like theirs she would have to get through that evening. Despite that, she left them with Jyn’s fingers digging into his arm as she tried not to jump up and down on the spot, Cassian turning to grin at her.

“We just met Leia Organa!”

“Holy fuck, _we just met Leia Organa!_ ”

For a moment, they both just silently screeched. So engrossed in the moment, Cassian barely remembered what Kay was talking about when he eventually chimed in.

“ _I think he’s here!_ ”

“Wait, what?” Jyn said distractedly, glancing over her shoulder.

Cassian clicked. Oh shit, that’s right, they were indeed in the middle of a heist.

“Where?” he asked at once.

“ _Beard and pony tail guy, over by the shrimp fountain, has two body guards with him._ ”

Cassian leaned in and kissed Jyn’s neck, using it to cover up him subtly checking out the man Krennic had apparently sent that evening. He wasn’t immediately recognisable, and Cassian noticed that he kept tugging at his suit sleeves as if they bothered him. He had the wide-eyed and scattered look of someone who, like them, wasn’t exactly well-versed in this kind of environment.

“What do you have on him?” Jyn muttered back. Thank god she had a voice, because his mouth was otherwise occupied.

“ _I’ve social media stalked him. Name is Bodhi Rook, no priors, appears to be squeaky clean_.”

“Clearly he’s not as clean as he looks.”

“ _Apparently he’s Krennic’s new art consultant and authenticator. He’s already made a bid on ‘Death of a Star’, and don’t worry. He’s currently in the lead_.”

“If Krennic finds out that we’re the ones who stole the painting that he won, we’re as good as dead,” Cassian felt the need to point out.

“That’s the beauty of the plan,” Jyn reached up and snaked her arms around his neck. “He’s never going to know it’s us. His Twitter said he was holidaying in Bora Bora, so it was the perfect opportunity. This art consultant has never met us before and we’ve disguised ourselves pretty damn well.”

“Yeah, make up really has come in leaps and bounds,” Cassian had realised that earlier than evening when she’d literally taped his jaw into a different shape.

“Exactly,” Jyn grinned. “So Kay scrubs the security cams and we blend into the background so there’s no visual evidence of us ever even being here. Krennic can go through the entire guest list and figure out that Jeron and Lyra were the ones who got in with fake IDs, but he’ll have a hard time finding us because Jeron and Lyra don’t exist. We’ll get zero hits off of facial recognition even if something does manage to get through the cracks and we have our ways to hiding the money trail. Krennic has plenty of other enemies to suspect stealing off him, so we get his profit and he gets to suck it.”

“This plan is honestly insane.”

“Yeah,” she laughed. “Why did you agree to it again?”

_Because I think you’re amazing._

“Because I hate Krennic just as much as you.”

It wasn’t a complete lie. The last time Cassian had come directly face to face with Orson Krennic, the man had shot him. The scar on his shoulder screamed for revenge, however risky and stupid it might be to get it, but it was always going to be because of this woman who somehow simultaneously brought out the best and worst in him.

For some, it would seem that Bodhi Rook with his two bodyguards would be a overkill, but honestly, he didn’t look out of place at all. The entire event was crawling with security, there to simultaneously protect the paintings, and those who were looking at buying them. As such, getting to a place where they weren’t supposed to be was going to end up particularly challenging. They remained in the background during the rest of the night, watching all the fanfare of announcing the auction winners and pretending to look appropriately disappointed as they learned they did not win anything. Eventually, Orson Krennic was announced as the winner of _Death of a Star_ and they politely clapped as Bodhi Rook shook hands with the auction manager and posed for several photos.

It was time to move into position.

“ _The back stairwell is your better bet_ ,” Kay’s voice said in his ear as they held hands, dashing through the crowd. “ _They don’t do a physical sweep there. So long as you stay in position, the cameras will never see you_.”

Jyn’s fingers squeezed his as they entered the stairwell. She had already scoped out the tiny corner on the first floor landing of the stairwell that was perfectly hidden from the camera’s view. The only issue was that the space was barely big enough to hide one person, let alone two. Climbing the stairs two at a time, she pressed her back to the wall and he took a subtle glance at the security camera in the corner.

“I’m still in view,” he mentioned.

She rolled her eyes before pulling him in. His chest hit hers and she huffed a little, reaching out and grabbing hold of his jacket to seemingly keep him in place. God, he barely knew where to look.

“How long do we have to stay like this again?” he asked.

She smirked, so close that he could feel it against his neck.

“Sick of me already, Cassian?”

“Jeron,” he said.

“Oh, now you remember the cover,” she snorted. 

Time ceased to exist in that stairwell. Despite standing still, the adrenaline kept their hearts thumping erratically and Cassian found himself matching his breathing to hers in an attempt to keep it under control. They basically had to stay still until the museum closed, which was likely going to take a couple of hours at the very least. He hoped his legs could hold out that lot. He could smell the sweat on her forehead and was certain the heat radiating from his jacket collar was about to roast him alive. Her dress slipped under his grip.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but at one point there was a sudden _thud, thud, thud_ from somewhere above them.

They both turned and stared at the stairs.

“I thought they didn’t do a physical sweep of this stairwell!” Jyn hissed as fear stabbed through Cassian’s chest.

“ _They don’t_ –” Kay said, furiously.

“Then who the fuck–”

“We have to abort, Jyn–”

“ _WAIT_ ,” He could almost imagine Kay feverishly tapping through different cameras on his iPad. “ _It’s not security! I think they’re party guests – incoming twenty seconds_ –”

Jyn looked up at him and in that moment when their eyes locked, he knew exactly what she was saying to him. He didn’t know how they did it, but sometimes they just had moments where he could basically read her mind. All she had to do was look and he just knew.

 _Our cover can stay intact_ , she said. _We can save the job. KISS ME, YOU BAFFOON._

He plunged a hand into her hair and dragged her mouth to his.

She responded in earnest, arms snaking in under his jacket. There was a kind of roaring in his ears. He couldn’t see anything, he couldn’t hear anything, all he knew was her body pressed against his and the way her leg had lifted to hitch around his hip. He smoothed a hand from her knee to thigh and genuinely wondered whether he’d stopped breathing. Her arms moved to wrap around his shoulders and he lifted her, her dress shifting up to her waist. Her legs gripped his hips and he realised his body was the only thing keeping her against the wall. Each kiss was accompanied by a sound from somewhere inside him that he was simultaneously very embarrassed about and yet unable to control.

This woman was going to murder him one of these days.

After several moments – or possibly several hours? – they both seemed to realise that they could no longer hear the footsteps that had been approaching. Their lips slowed until eventually they pulled away, Jyn glancing over his shoulder in confusion.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Kay?” Cassian tried to make contact. There was nothing, no static or background noise at all. “ _Kay?_ KAY – I think he’s turned the mic off.”

Jyn let out a snort of laughter and he couldn’t help but join her, letting his forehead smack into the stairwell wall next to hers as she ungracefully slid back down to the floor. It took several minutes for Kay to check back in with them.

“ _Are you quite done, yet?_ ”

“I take it they went right past us?” Cassian asked.

“ _You made out for way longer than was necessary_.”

“What can I say,” Jyn said, dryly. “We’re thorough.” 

Cassian tugged on his collar. Only a few more hours to go. 


	2. Part 2

No one else traversed their stairwell.

The Christmas carols that had been trilling muffled through the walls eventually stopped. Slowly, the museum became quieter and darker. Still, the two of them stood together, afraid of moving even an inch away in case a flicker of clothing or hair was accidentally caught on the cameras. “It takes twenty minutes for them to do a physical sweep of the floor,” he remembered Kay saying as they sat in the van outside the museum. “As soon as they’ve completed the first one, I’ll place a still picture over the cameras so everything looks normal. But that means you’ve only got twenty minutes to get the painting out.”

“That’s plenty of time,” Jyn had said.

He wished he had her confidence, sometimes.

“Do you ever wish you ended up somewhere different?” he whispered. The stairwell echoed with the slightest noise, so he kept his lips to her ear, barely moving them. “That you had a normal life?”

“Nah,” she breathed back. “This is more exciting. Only thing I doubt is whether my parents would be proud of me.”

He still didn’t know the full story about her parents. When he’d first met her, all he’d been able to gather was that they were dead and that they fuelled her desire for revenge against Orson Krennic for some reason. Over the years, he’d managed to get bits and pieces out of her. Her mother had died when she was young. Her father had died three years ago, quite possibly a fresh wound when they’d first met. Galen Erso had worked for one of the many companies Krennic owned, and while she’d never told him exactly, he’d assumed that Orson Krennic had had her father killed to cover up one of his shadier dealings that he kept out of the public eye.

Jyn had burst into tears at one point during their first heist, seemingly overcome with all of her grief and the adrenaline of escaping with a very valuable piece of art. He had reached out and squeezed her shoulder that day, and she had sobbed into his neck in response.

They’d never spoken about it again.

“If it helps, I think they would.”

“My mother wouldn’t,” Jyn whispered. “She would be horrified at me breaking the law.”

“Not every law is morally right.”

Her arms tensed where they were wrapped around his waist.

“True.”

“ _First sweep is done!_ ” Kay suddenly chimed in. “ _It’s go time!_ ”

They snapped into action.

Jyn kicked off her heels before the two of them hurried back down the stairs. She exchanged them for a battered pair of converses that she’d subtly stashed behind a Christmas tree earlier in the party. The decorations of the evening remained, clearly someone else’s job to clear in the morning. They ran across the main lobby, heading for the wing where _Death of a Star_ hung on the wall, just waiting for them. They halted in the doorway, breathing hard as they waited for Kay to cut the motion sensors. Then, Jyn whipped out the small bag of tools from under her dress that would allow her to remove the painting from the wall without causing any damage.

This was the part they knew well. She would steal, he would cover. He didn’t like guns too much and it was far too tiresome to find ways to sneak one past the museum’s security upon arrival anyway, so he usually relied on his fists if it came to it. Of course, a good heist shouldn’t require a fist fight at all, but it never hurt to be prepared. The lights were dimmed and they didn’t dare brighten them, so he held a pocket flashlight for her that beamed with red light, eyes consistently moving around the wing.

“Cassian, hold it,” Jyn barked at him, and he rushed to help her as the painting’s frame came free of the wall. Roughly as tall as their shoulders, it would be an awkward one to get out, but certainly not impossible.

“That was impressively fast,” he noted.

She grinned at him in the dark.

That was when they heard the click of a gun’s safety reverberate through the otherwise silent room.

They both froze.

“Yes, well done,” a voice they knew well said. “Now give it to me.”

“Fuck…” Jyn breathed as they both turned. In the glow of the red flashlight, Orson Krennic naturally stepped forward, gun pointed at their heads and several bodyguards around him with several more guns, including Bodhi Rook the art authenticator that they’d seen earlier in the evening making the bet on Krennic’s behalf.

Holy Christ, they were so dead. Where the hell had they fucked up? Because it was clear that somehow, they had.

“ _It’s too dark, what’s going on?_ ” Kay said. “ _I can hear Krennic! How the hell_ –?”

“The guards sweep every twenty minutes,” Cassian called out a warning. “If you shoot, they’ll come running early.”

“I wouldn’t worry about the guards,” Krennic rolled his eyes.

Shit. That meant they were probably slumped over their chairs in the security control room with bullets in their chests.

“How did you know?” Jyn had to ask.

“Did you _really_ think I wouldn’t have eyes on this place?” Krennic scoffed. “Anything I want, you two are always there ready to get your greedy little hands on it before me. I knew if I pretended to be out of the country you would seize the opportunity and I was right! Thanks for doing all the hard work for me.”

They had quite severely underestimated him. Cassian counted, trying to desperately get his erratic breath under control. Six bodyguards, not including Bodhi Rook and Krennic. Eight guns. And two of them, plus a rather valuable painting. Not exactly good odds, but like hell was Cassian going down without a fight. While the bodyguards all looked rather menacing, he noticed that Bodhi Rook’s aim was shaking slightly. There was a hint of fear on his face. The man probably had no idea what he’d been signing up for when he’d applied for the job of art authenticator and from the looks of it, had never fired a gun in his life.

He slowly moved back to Jyn’s side, close enough that he could hide their entwined hands from view. He squeezed three times. _Fight_.

She squeezed back.

“Kay,” he said out loud. “Lights?”

Krennic frowned in confusion, but before he could say anything else, the dim security lighting all cut out in an instant, plunging the room into total pitch darkness.

Cassian lunged forward exactly at where Bodhi Rook had been standing. He didn’t even need to see to disarm him, easily punching him in the face and taking his gun. There were grunts and yells in the darkness and several shots went off. Immediately his left leg burst into pain as a bullet clearly slammed through his skin. _Jesus Almighty Christ, the fucker shot him again!_ And while this shot appeared to be a lot shallower than his shoulder, it just had to be in a worse location. He hit the floor, his leg unable to support his weight and he cried out when someone slammed him on the head with the butt of a gun for good measure. He didn’t think it was hard enough to cause any serious damage, but it certainly brought tears to his eyes.

Being blind and in so much pain was disorientating. All he could hear were scuffles and unorganised voices yelling over each other as Krennic shouted at his guards to stop shooting and find where Jyn had gone. Footsteps thundered in every direction, apparently leaving Cassian for dead.

Well, he had Christmas in two weeks. Like hell was he bleeding out in an art museum.

Slowly, he pushed himself backwards until he found the wall. He risked shining the flashlight onto his leg to see what he was dealing with and he let out a breath of relief when he found that there was no severe pulsing of blood that might have indicated a hit artery. The bullet appeared to have just grazed him. Still hurt like a bitch, but he would hopefully be ok. Gritting his teeth, he started feeling his way along the wall until he accidentally crashed into something rather large. It clattered onto the floor and his heart spasmed in his chest, hoping that Krennic and his guards didn’t hear. When the shouts continued to recede further into the museum in the distance, he breathed out and tried to figure out what he’d crashed into.

Shining the flashlight, he realised that he’d crawled right into _Death of a Star_. How fucking ironic. He was the one with the painting, and he was the one person who couldn’t even fucking walk.

“Kay?” he sighed into the dark. “Kay, you there?”

“ _Oh my god, you’re alive!_ ” Kay yelped down the other end of the wire. “ _I heard you get shot, I thought you were a goner!_ ”

“Jyn’s taken off. I’m not out but I’m certainly down,” he smacked his head back against the wall. “You were right, I never should have trusted her again–”

“ _Shut the fuck up, I’m getting you out_ ,” Kay said furiously. “ _Stay put! I’m coming!_ ”

Shit really did have to be bad for Kay to leave the safety of the van. Breathing in heavily through the pain, Cassian tried to protest, but Kay didn’t respond. God, he really hoped he wasn’t leaking blood everywhere, that would really make it too easy for the cops to find him after this fiasco. He used his suit jacket to apply pressure and tried to imagine what insane story he would have to make up to explain this one to his boss on Monday. _Oh, this? I accidentally fell down some stairs. Absolutely did not get shot while attempting to steal a painting from the museum on the weekend_.

Suddenly, he heard rushing footsteps heading in his direction once more. He immediately killed the flashlight, hoping that it was quick enough that he couldn’t be seen. _Shit, shit, shit_. Had Krennic come back for the painting? He prepared himself to go absolutely feral if need be, gritting his teeth. He was fucking getting out of this alive.

“Cassian?” Jyn hissed. “ _Cassian? Where are you?_ ”

His eyes widened in shock.

“Here!” he whispered.

Waving the flashlight, she found him right away, running and throwing herself down at his side. “Oh my god, I thought you were dead until Kay said he spoke to you,” she sniffed, her voice shaking as she took in the wound on his leg. In the dim red glow, he noticed a bruise forming on her cheek. “Oh, thank god, can you stand?”

“I think so,” His head was spinning a little, but he managed to follow her words. “but you’re going to have to help me. I don’t think we’ll be able to carry out the painting as well.”

“You still have the painting?” Jyn laughed in utter astonishment. She glanced around and sure enough, noticed the painting still lying on the floor next to him. “You’re fucking insane. Come on, let’s go.”

“Jyn, don’t be stupid,” Cassian sighed as she bent down, pulling his arm over her shoulder. “You need to take the painting and get out, I’ll just slow you down–”

“While I appreciate the noble act of sacrifice, I respectfully ask you to shut the fuck up,” Jyn said. “God, I bet you thought I ran off and left you behind again, didn’t you?”

He didn’t say anything. She gave an exasperated sigh, turning to look him dead in the eyes.

“Cassian. This isn’t about the money,” she said. “You will always be more important than a bloody painting, _now get off the fucking floor and MOVE_.”

He couldn’t argue with that logic.

He had to admit that leaving the painting behind was only slightly less painful than his leg, but Jyn was not about to leave him behind. He tried his best to walk himself, but she basically ended up half carrying his weight. He heard yells behind them, Krennic roaring to find them. Kay came through for them, apparently hacking into the electrics some more and flashing a light here and there, their only beacon leading them through the art gallery. “It’s how he led me to you through the dark,” Jyn told him.

There was something poetic in that. 

In the distance, they heard the inevitable wail of police sirens starting to sound. Much preferring to get out of there before cops started swarming the place, he heard Jyn breathe a sigh of relief when a green emergency exit sign came into view.

Then, someone suddenly body slammed them. 

It wasn’t hard, but it was enough for Jyn to stagger and for Cassian to get thrown to the floor. Stars burst behind his eyes as his leg erupted in pain and for a moment, he couldn’t grasp what was happening. He heard Jyn grunt with the force of a well-placed punch, her victim yelping and crumpling to his knees as she grabbed and yanked his arm up behind his back. In the dim light of the exit sign, he realised that Bodhi Rook had been the one to find them, of all people, his nose swollen and bloody from where Cassian had punched him earlier. He now had the beginnings of a black eye forming thanks to Jyn.

“Please don’t kill me!” he pleaded.

“Just let us go and we won’t,” Jyn thundered. No matter what they said they would never purposefully kill someone over a heist, but it never hurt to let someone think it.

“If Krennic finds out I let you go, _he_ will kill me,” Rook said.

“Why did you take the job?” Cassian asked.

“I’m an artist,” he said, voice shaking. “I was just trying to get into the field! I was going to work this job for a year, save up, apply to art school, I had no idea I’d get caught up in a goddamn museum robbery–!”

“Jyn, let him go.”

She pushed Rook roughly away from her, holding up her hands. She immediately rushed over to help Cassian up.

He looked back at Rook once he managed to painfully haul himself back to his feet.

“Come with us,” he said. “I can’t guarantee you safety, but Orson Krennic is no friend to us either.”

“How do I know you won’t try and use me as well?”

Thundering footsteps. Someone a few corridors away yelled, “ _I heard them that way!_ ”

Jyn started shoving him forward. “You have roughly ten seconds to make a decision,” Cassian called back over his shoulder at Bodhi Rook. Then, he turned and watched Jyn shoulder her way through the emergency exit door. Of course it immediately triggered an alarm, but that was the least of their worries. Jyn had already hauled his body up into the van that Kay had parked in the alley. “GO, GO, GO!” she screamed and she slammed the van door shut just as Kay put his foot down.

It wasn’t long after when Krennic’s remaining bodyguards reached them and started shooting. Cassian didn’t think they’d ever had such a dramatic escape before. They sped away amongst a hailstorm of bullets, keeping their heads low until they eventually got out of reach. Luckily, they appeared to be leaving from the back entrance of the museum, which meant they had avoided the giant squad of cop cars that were no doubt piling up at the front door at that very second. He absolutely did not have the patience to add a high speed car chase to the end of their night.

He’d been through quite enough.

“So that one went well,” Kay called back from the driver’s seat, hastily slowing to a regular speed.

“Fucking splendid,” Jyn answered. He watched her crawl over to where he lay, head resting back against the van floor in exhaustion. “You alive?” she asked.

He smiled blearily up at her.

“Unfortunately.”

“Is your leg ok?”

“I think you’re gonna have to chop it, Jyn.”

She rolled her eyes.

“He all right back there?” Kay yelled.

“He’ll be fine!” she called back.

“Thank god,” a small voice murmured behind them.

They both turned to see where Bodhi Rook had leapt into the van just seconds after them. He hadn’t moved at all except for rubbing his shoulder from where he’d clearly landed hard on the floor. They still couldn’t really trust him… but they also couldn’t _not_ trust him at this point.

“Anyone gonna explain who the hell he is?” Kay asked.

“Bodhi Rook,” Cassian said. “Welcome to the team, I guess.”

* * *

Two weeks later... 

His sister nearly crushed him when she opened the door.

“Hey, Teresa, merry Christmas,” he managed to gasp out over her shoulder.

“GUYS! CASSIAN’S HERE!” she hollered back into the house.

There was a sudden thundering down the stairs. Within seconds, every Andor sibling was crashing into the hallway, all throwing their arms around him despite his protests. Frankie practically cried, while Mari clung onto his back like a baby monkey. Teresa ruffled his hair and Ana filmed the entire encounter on her phone, dodging out of the way when two small figures came rushing from behind her. He yelped in pain as his niece and nephew both joined the ambush, each choosing a leg to slam and cling onto.

“Careful!” he cried, wincing as his niece Ella clung onto the still healing wound on his thigh. “My leg isn’t 100% yet!”

“Are you ok, Uncle Cassian?” his nephew James asked.

“Was the gun that shot you SUPER big?” Ella added.

“Also since when did you do rifle shooting as a hobby?” Ana felt the need to point out.

“Jesus, how about you let me through the door first?” he asked, making a pointed useless attempt to shuffle forward. Naturally, instead of encouraging everyone to get off him, it just made them all laugh harder, Ella and James both screaming with delight instead.

Christmas was a strange, nostalgic holiday for them. Too many times in their youth they had spent it placed in less than stellar care, or in a home where all of their presents had been donated and impersonal. It was something to dread, something to brush off as just another day, something that didn’t really matter. The second Cassian had turned eighteen he had tried to gain custody of the rest of his siblings, only to be denied based on the fact that he was so young. Rather than let it deter him, it did nothing but spur him on. He kept on trying, his rather lucrative side hustle providing more than enough funds to pay for a good lawyer, until eventually two years later just before Christmas… the courts had finally said yes.

(He would never forget the day he had been able to take his sisters home with him).

Yes, Christmas was a weird holiday for them. Now that they were all adults with their own lives and plans, their tradition was to meet at Teresa’s house in Pasadena every year for food, presents and general merriment. Sometimes they brought along friends or dates, but Christmas for them was first and foremost about being together in the way that they couldn’t be together when they were younger.

“Sooo, how’s it really been?” Teresa threw an arm around him once they finally got back in through the door. The others all ran on ahead while they trailed back behind like they often did. “Are you ever going to explain what exactly happened to your leg, because I know for a fact that you didn’t get shot at a rifle shooting range, don’t even try me.”

The sister closest to him in age, he just couldn’t hide anything from Teresa. _She be knowing_. He often withheld certain facts and figures in the interest of keeping her as uninformed as possible, should the police ever come knocking, but Teresa Andor didn’t need facts or figures to realise that most of the money he had didn’t just come from working in IT. The fact that she was a training nurse also didn’t help.

“How did you know?” he asked.

She gestured at his leg. “For starters, you hate guns and would never take up shooting as a hobby,” she rolled her eyes. “Second, you were quite clearly shot within a close range and randomly turned up on my doorstep at 2am asking for help. I’m not an idiot.”

He didn’t know what he would ever do without her.

“Well, it’s… it’s been…” he trailed off.

“Ahh,” she nodded knowingly.

“Ok look, I had some work recently,” he admitted. “It kind of went balls up. I got shot trying to get out.”

“Unmitigated disaster?”

“Exactly.”

“You ok?”

“Apart from my leg? I was fine, and Jyn didn’t get hurt–” he replied, but he winced and quite obviously cut himself off.

Teresa caught on straight away.

“Holy shit, she’s the one you do all of this stuff with, isn’t it?” she said.

He’d never exactly told her. Teresa had been round to his apartment a couple of times when Jyn also happened to be there, and not exactly wanting to explain ‘this is the random girl who I stole something with one time turned regular heist partner’, he’d ended up just introducing her as his ‘friend from college’. As a result Teresa _loved_ Jyn, always happily chatting to her whenever they crossed paths and he feared his slip up just cost him the friendship. Surely Teresa would hate the woman who consistently put her only brother in harm’s way?

He nodded in confirmation, bracing himself.

“Oh my god, that makes a lot of sense,” Teresa said. “Are you SURE she was ok? I can always take a look at her if you’re worried, I know she doesn’t seem like the type to ask for help if she needs it, but I can always try and offer–”

He smiled.

“I swear she’s fine.”

“You’re going to give me a heart attack one of these days! I don’t even want to know what laws you were breaking this time, just come and sit down because you’re supposed to be healing–”

“Oh my god, Resa, can you fucking chill?” Cassian said, exasperatedly. “I invited Jyn to Christmas dinner and she won’t come if you’re here going all Apeshit Nurse on her.”

Teresa slammed a hand into his chest.

“I’m sorry, you WHAT?”

“… invited her to dinner?” he said, weakly.

His sister looked on the verge of hyperventilating.

“I didn’t cook for an extra person! Jesus Christ, do we even have room at the table? Wait, if I move the kids down a bit, I could maybe squeeze her–”

“It’s really no trouble,” Cassian tried, leaning against the doorway to the kitchen as he watched his sister dance frantically around her dining room table. Really, he didn’t even know what had possessed him into inviting Jyn to Christmas. It was like something inside had just snapped and gone mad. Desperate to know if she was doing ok, he’d messaged her off-hand and casually asked about her Christmas plans to cover up the fact that really he was just concerned about her well-being. She’d mentioned her Christmas dinner for one that she’d planned on and in a fit of madness, he had said that she was more than welcome to join him and his family for Christmas.

(She had told him thank you and that she would see).

Teresa glanced up at him from where she was currently rearranging knives and forks. She smirked.

“Shit, you really have it bad for this girl, huh?”

He rolled his eyes. “Who, me?”

“Don’t play stupid with me, bro.”

“Fine, I’m not denying it,” he shrugged. “but it makes no difference. She’s not… she’d never… unless…”

“UNLESS?” Teresa said.

He shook his head. It was ridiculous of him to even entertain the thought, but there was just something about the way that she had come back for him that he hadn’t been able to get out of his head. It was the way her voice had shaken, the way she had furiously refused to take the painting and run, things that made him stop and dangerously imagine a universe in which she actually cared about him…

“I don’t know,” he tried to brush it off. “Lately I’ve just thought that… but it’s me just trying to imagine something that isn’t there. Hell, she probably won’t even turn up tonight–”

Someone knocked on the door.

Him and Teresa both turned to stare back in the direction of the front door with similar looks of awe. From the lounge Ana yelled that she would get it before it suddenly hit him and he hastily ran after her.

“NO, I’ll get it!” he yelled, skidding in behind his sister and grabbing her round the middle.

“Hey!” she complained, kicking her feet wildly. He literally tossed her to the side before opening the door.

Jyn quirked an eyebrow as he attempted to look cool, calm and collected. A rather challenging feat when he had several sets of curious eyes staring somewhere behind him and Ana now clamouring for a view somewhere over his shoulder.

“You came,” he said, blankly before immediately cringing. _Of course she came, you fucking dumbass_.

“Yeah,” she said with a small smile. “Sorry I didn’t give you any warning, I should have said–”

“No, no, it’s fine!” he insisted, immediately stepping to the side. “Seriously, come in. It’s… it’s good to see you.”

“You too,” she said, sliding inside before he shut the door behind her. “How’s the leg?” she asked.

“It’s doing ok,” he replied. “Thank you–”

“AHEM,” Ana dramatically fake coughed.

God, he was going to kill her.

“Right,” he said, hastily. “Jyn, this is one of my sisters, Ana.”

“SO good to meet you!” Ana grinned.

“And you’ve met Teresa before–”

Teresa barely let Jyn even get into the house before she was leaping forward and holding out her arms. Taken by surprise, Jyn had hugged her before she could really admit that she wasn’t exactly a hugging person. Cassian tried to suppress another smile. “I’m so glad you could make it!” she said, excitedly. “Of course the idiot didn’t tell me until literally five minutes ago, but there will be plenty of food, don’t you worry – it’s so nice to see you again, how are you–?”

“Teresa, let her breathe,” Cassian hissed. “Sorry,” he added to Jyn.

“It’s fine,” she said as Teresa finally let her go. “How many sisters do you have again?”

She had to endure the whole process another two times over and a subsequently three more with Teresa’s husband and kids. With Mari blasting Christmas music in the background and several happy voices chatting and laughter over top of each other, Cassian could almost imagine it was a normal family. Jyn sat next to him on the two-seater couch as they waited for dinner to be ready, their knees overlapping as she told him about her plans for her final semester.

“You’re going to be the best lawyer,” he assured her.

“Noooo, stop,” she scoffed, smacking his shoulder. “You’ll inflate my ego. Besides, what are your plans for next year? I’m sure you don’t want to be working IT forever.”

“I don’t know… my job is good,” he admitted slowly. “I can’t complain about much these days… I guess I’ve been sort of thinking about what else I can do to make a difference. You know our cover we used at the art auction, I’ve been thinking lately that maybe I could make that a reality.”

For a moment, she just stared at him wide-eyed and he freaked out, wondering what he’d said. Then it clicked and he spluttered, “N-no! Not – not that part, I–”

“Oh – of course–” Jyn coughed hastily. “not that I thought–”

“No, I swear–”

“Because that would be–”

“I wouldn’t–”

A forced laugh as they avoided each other’s eye. _God_ , just fucking slay him. Heart slamming, he continued, “I was talking about the imaginary homeless shelter – I was thinking I kind of want to start a real one… I don’t know, I don’t know the first thing about running something like that, but…”

“I think that’s a great idea,” she insisted at once. “That would mean a lot to you.”

“I was thinking… I don’t know, that you could help me?” he winced at the break in his tone. “I mean… if you – if you wanted…”

She smiled softly. “I’d like that.”

He grinned back. “We may have to heist something else to make it happen, though. I’ve got four sisters to get through college and our last one was a bust, after all.”

“Oh, so you’re working with me again, huh?” Jyn mentioned, slyly.

He rolled his eyes. “You dragged me out of a museum in a hail of gunfire, did I ever really have a choice? Thanks for that, by the way.”

“You’re welcome,” she said.

Across the room, he could see Frankie and Mari exchanging awed looks. He pointedly refused to look at them, sticking his middle finger up at them behind his back instead.

Dinner thankfully ended up passing without incident. Jyn was squeezed in between Cassian and Teresa’s husband Terry, who Cassian was thankful to remember was usually on the same wavelength as Jyn in that he didn’t feel the need to fill in any silence with chatter. They vibed by politely offering different condiments to each other, Cassian glad that Teresa hadn’t put her next to the loud theatrics of Ana or Mari. She listened to the family teasing and roasting each other with amused interest, pulling a Christmas cracker with Ella and even letting her arrange the flimsy paper hat on her head.

Watching her talk to his sisters with a small smile on her face made his chest burn.

_(God, he liked her so much)._

“You can’t turn up to someone else’s Christmas celebration empty handed,” Jyn said sometime later after dinner had ended. She pulled out a reusable tote bag that she’d brought along with her, placing it onto the coffee table and opening it with a flourish. She pulled out small bags of chocolate tied with ribbon and started handing them round to everyone in the room. “Sorry it’s so generic,” she apologised.

“Don’t be, you didn’t have to get us anything at all!” Teresa insisted.

“Cassian, you can bring her home any time you like,” Mari grinned, Ana already ripping her chocolate open.

“Thank you, Jyn,” Frankie added.

“It’s no problem,” she said. “Cassian, your present it a bit different, I hope you don’t mind getting it later.”

“You really didn’t have to get me anything at all.”

She shot him a look that just said _shut up and accept the gift, dumbass._

Later into the evening when they were all starting to put on their coats and hugging goodbye, Teresa found him carefully trying to not watch Jyn as she said farewell to the rest of his sisters. She elbowed him in the side, eyes sparkling.

“Don’t say a word,” Cassian said, hugging her tightly. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

“ _Seriously_ ,” she whispered. “ _That girl is so in love with you, it’s insane. Just go for it_.”

He ignored the stutter of his heart. “Merry Christmas, Resa,” he said, loudly.

She chuckled. “Merry Christmas, bro. Remember, you can come here more than once a year. If you ever need time or to get away, just come see me, ok? I know you’re the big brother who feels like he has to protect everyone and be fine, but even big brothers need their little sisters sometimes.”

“Love you.”

“Love you, too,” She squeezed him tight.

When he found out that Jyn had taken the train there, he immediately insisted on driving her home. His sisters all hooted and hollered when they realised, Cassian rolling his eyes as he hugged both Ella and James goodbye, the kids shrieking with laughter as he tucked them in his arms. “Just ignore them,” he muttered to Jyn as they walked down the garden path together.

“I like your family,” Jyn said, casually.

“I like them when they’re not being idiots,” Cassian said.

When they reached the car, Jyn reached down and pulled out a long Christmas-cracker shaped present from her bag. “This one is for you,” she said. “I couldn’t give it to you earlier, I think you’ll probably understand why.”

“Jyn, you really didn’t have to–”

“Just open the bloody thing!” Jyn burst out.

He eyed her suspiciously, but her face betrayed nothing. Peeling back the paper, he realised that underneath appeared to be a rolled up piece of canvas –

 _No goddamn fucking way_.

He held onto it tightly, using a hand to hide his face.

“ _Jyn, what the fuck_ ,” he said. He looked up at her mischievous face, gesturing wildly. “I mean – I just – seriously, how the HELL?”

“Bodhi,” she grinned. “I take it you’re happy?”

He let out a laugh. “HOLY SHIT!”

So overcome, he didn’t even know what else to say. This woman was something else and he was in awe and he ended up slapping _Death of a Star_ onto the roof of his car so that he could reach out and thread his hands into her hair, kissing her soundly. Perhaps it wasn’t the most thought through idea, but something about her made him just forget all logic and reason.

After a moment he realised what an insane idiot he was and he hastily pulled away.

“Fuck, I’m so sorry,” he said. “I probably should have prefaced that with… I don’t know. I think you’re amazing.”

Jyn looked like he had just clubbed her around the head.

“If I had known how much that meant to you, I would have stolen a painting for you years ago,” she replied.

He tried not to let his heart spasm out of control. He still held her face and she wasn’t pulling away. In fact, she was kissing him this time, pulling him in and pressing her lips to his again and again until he was out of breath and she broke out laughing. He looked down at her in his arms with her head thrown back and the smile on her face and he grinned back.

“Seriously,” he said. “Thank you. I don’t know how the fuck you managed it, are you sure you’re not Santa?”

“Was no Christmas miracle,” Jyn snorted. “Like I said, Bodhi helped me.”

“But he escaped with us that night at the museum,” Cassian said. “Wouldn’t Krennic realise that he helped us?”

Jyn shook her head, her arms sneaking up to wind around his neck. “Bodhi’s an art authenticator, he had no idea what job he was taking,” she told him. “He told Krennic that after the guns came out, he freaked and ran, but he was still loyal and said he’d still work for him.”

“And Krennic _believed_ that?”

“Turns out Bodhi can be very convincing,” Jyn said.

“I’ll say,” Cassian realised he kind of owed the man a lot.

“Anyway, I stayed in touched with him since the museum and we planned another heist,” Jyn said with a very satisfied grin. “Bodhi didn’t even have to burn his cover for it, so now we have an official in to Krennic’s inner circle.”

“You know, for someone who claims that they only work alone, you have a surprising amount of people that you trust.”

“Can I trust you?” she mused.

Cassian knew she was just pretending to ponder to wind him up, but he still found himself holding her tighter, moving to press his forehead against hers.

“You can trust me,” he said.

She blinked up at him, clearly taken aback by the amount of earnest in his tone.

“I know,” she said, simply.

For a long moment, they just stood there together next to his car. A warm breeze blew through, the only difference between now and when they had stood just like this in the stairwell of the museum. He was well past the point of no return, and she absolutely had to know it.

“Guess I better shoot my shot then,” he said. “Wanna go out with me sometime?”

She pulled back so she could see her grin.

“We could go to the museum.”

“Don’t even joke,” he rolled his eyes.

“Or fine, we just stay at your place,” she said, moving so that her lips grazed his jaw. “Stay up. Watch a new year’s movie.”

“So is that a yes?”

She kissed him, long and hard.

“Yes.” 

* * *

\- Fin 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just imagine that the lapd are A) incompetent as hell and B) have krennic bribing them all, so that's the reason none of them face any legal repercusions lmaoooooo 
> 
> anyway I HOPE YOU ALL LIKED IT, and mosylufanfic I hope you enjoyed your present!!! Thank you so much for all of the comments, they really mean a lot to me. Happy and safe holidays everyone!! x


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